This invention relates to an electromotive scooter and more particularly to a power source unit for an electromotive scooter and a warning device which tells or warns the rider and near-by people when the switch of the electric motor is on and the scooter is ready to run.
The object of the invention is to prevent accidents peculiar to the electromotive scooters, or in other words, to provide a warning device which, by means of a pilot lamp that gives a visual signal and a warning sound that gives an acoustic signal as an equivalence of the sensation of idling of internal combustion engines, tells or warns the rider or nearby people when the switch for the electric motor is on and the vehicle is ready to run, and thereby assure safety and prevent the vehicle from being left in an active condition.
The conventional internal combustion engine scooter comes into a ready-to-run condition as the engine is started, and even in halted condition, keeps what is called the idling condition in which the internal combustion engine rotates at a low revolution; therefore the rider or nearby people can clearly know through touch and sound of vibration from the engine that the vehicle is active. The electromotive scooter, however, does not have an idling condition like the internal combustion engine scooter. The motor makes rather a soft working sound and causes little vibration and further is in a completely stopped and still condition when the vehicle is not running. It is, therefore, difficult for the rider or nearby people to tell through senses if the scooter is in a condition ready to run or not. If, therefore, the throttle of an electromotive scooter is operated carelessly out of a habit with an internal combustion engine scooter, it may give rise to an accident through an abrupt starting. To avoid such an accident, a safety system wherein a switch built in the seat allows the motor to be started only when the rider is on the seat has been developed and put into practice. It is pointed out, however, that this safety measure has such drawbacks that the difference in sitting positions from rider to rider due to, for example, difference of size of their bodies may cause inaction of the motor or that lifting of the body weight above the seat by the rider while riding may cause dangerous sudden stops of the vehicle or intermittent loss of driving force.